An Aussie girl, cooking in the US

I love a good chili and what could be better than adding more meat to a chili? Vegetarians, turn your eyes away now for that’s exactly what my lovely husband has done. This chili used to just have ground beef, but the addition of bacon and stew meat makes a meaty, hearty chili. And I’ve got to admit that it is amazing!

We’ve been married for over 15 years now, but it’s only recently that my love has started making dinner. I love to cook, so the kitchen has always been my domain. However, with the busyness of life, he offered to make dinner once or twice week – and who can resist a man who wants to cook you dinner? So Tuesday nights have now become Chili night. We’ve had this chili for the past two months now and it’s a hit – however it seems to be evolving as time goes by. It’s at a point now, though, that I want to share it.

One child loves to add cheese and sour cream. I love it with some crusty bread to soak up the juices. We have one child who really does not like beans. He groans each Tuesday as the chili appears on the table. He loves the meat, but the beans are to be avoided at all costs. My love has been toying with pureeing the beans – I’ll let you know how that goes too! I remember Mum used to mash the beans into the ground beef when she made taco meat – so I think it has potential.

My love is going to put some sausage in next time. He is probably going to use some kielbasa. If we were still in Australia, he would have used Kabana. Oh how we miss Kabana.

This meal is fabulous as a make-ahead frozen meal. I think it tastes even better as leftovers, as the meat breaks down even more and you get a pulled beef effect in the chili. After being in the slow cooker all day – I simply put any leftovers into a Ziplock plastic bag and freeze. When I want to eat it again, I defrost it overnight in the refrigerator or in the microwave. Once it is defrosted, simply reheat the meat in the microwave or saucepan, until the meat is thoroughly heated through.

Today was Superbowl! If you live in America, it’s likely that you already know that the Seahawks lost, so tonight I have a lot of sad friends and neighbors. It was a great game – you had no clue who was going to win right up to the last minute. One of the…

For the last week and a half we have been having a new food in our house every day. I was seeking out a new dessert to make when I stumbled over this Coca-Cola cake. I didn’t even know there was such a thing! It appealed to all my family – my…

Last year we started a new family tradition. Each year, we spend twelve days trying new foods. Most foods are new to us all, although occasionally one is something my love or I have tried. Today we started our twelve days with a little trip over the boarder to South America, with a Tres…

On Sunday, I gave you the very American Peppermint Bark. So today we are taking a trip over the waters to Australia – to make White Christmas. White Christmas is a popular sweet served, of course, at Christmastime. White Christmas is traditionally made from Copha, which is hydrogenated coconut oil. Australians have been cooking with…